Some musings from long-standing Talking Birds’ board member Jack about Coincidences

At our Talking Birds (TB) board meeting today we had one of our ongoing extras where a board or staff member briefly talks about themselves – it is a great way to learn more about our team. I was terrified when my turn came around, but I think I got away with it.

Today was Derek’s turn. Derek is the quieter of the Artistic Directors, so it is nice to learn a little more, and also as a founder member of Talking Birds, a bit more about the early days when Talking Birds were newly hatched. Derek started with his violin and how he played the Albert Hall aged 10 as part of a county string orchestra. (Enough of Derek’s story for now – it isn’t mine to tell.) But COINCIDENCE! In the sheaf of online reports that we read before each board meeting (fine job Mel) there was a mention of the Albert Hall, where TB’s Difference Engine being used for a performance of Les Mis.

The Difference Engine is one of the less trumpeted parts of Talking Birds’ work. It’s a system that projects the text of a performance onto your phone, primarily created to support hearing-impaired audiences, but also finding wider creative uses. They’ve been developing this for over a decade now and have found loyal users mostly amongst smaller outfits but also the RSC (who liked it so much they created their own version) and now a show in the Albert Hall (and proof the signal reaches every corner).

A few of my jobs have touched the d/Disability Arts movement, and friends have firmly warned me off getting too involved in complex and shifting politics. So the Difference Engine has always struck me as a profoundly brave project: non-disabled people pursuing a project to improve access for hearing-impaired users. Just ‘cos it’s the right thing to do. (Right now the limitation is the number of units they have to circulate to artists who want them, but do get in touch if you want to join the Difference Engine community.

That thought linked to another of the Board Agenda – the new Arts Council funding framework. Right now there are just principles which boil down to excellence, diversity of audience and geographic spread (so nothing new then). I think Talking Birds has these things pretty well covered, openness is in their DNA. The Arts Council’s principles are hinting at meeting the needs of people as expressed by the people, rather than creatives knowing what is good for the masses.

…. Which brings us to “Art for the People”, another of Talking Birds’ under-the-radar projects started within the City of Culture. They created a Citizens’ Assembly – a statistically representative group of local people who came to sessions where they worked with experts to generate their own recommendations for how “culture” might operate in Coventry. The financial disintegration of the City of Culture legacy meant that these ideas haven’t yet been put into action, but, like the Difference Engine, Talking Birds refuses to let important things drop. This whole process was, by its nature, out of sight: the participants were carefully selected and invited to engage (and paid for their time) so it didn’t invite the regular bods (like me) to opt-in, nor did it crow about its outcomes. But Talking Birds is fighting to make those ideas happen. This week they’ve interviewed for the first paid post to make these outcomes unfurl into reality.

So I was thinking about how a stranger might be welcomed into a creative realm that is new to them. I suspect drumming circles, community choirs and circle-dance groups can collect material from a range of cultures, but that isn’t the same as being passionate about your own culture and wanting to welcome others in. The example where it actually works reliably might be how young people are inducted into adult culture: it is taken for granted that it will happen and there are often moments of sudden “awakening” planned or unplanned. I think that is a straw I will clutch and consider a little longer.

The Diversity question constantly fascinates me. At least twice a week I sit and play British and Irish tunes with (mostly) other white British musicians, sometimes for English dances. We’d love to welcome a more diverse crowd, but why would someone with a Bangladeshi or Somali heritage want to join in? I’d feel a total imposter if I tried to insert myself into another musical culture. Access Folk from Sheffield University is a thoughtful and practical project exploring practical ways to welcome more people into the folk singing scene. They’ve crowd-sourced good practice, offered challenges for organisers to try in practice, and are putting out some excellent resources.

I think Blogs are meant to arrive at conclusions, if you can spot one here you’re welcome.

I’m going to wrap up by sharing 2 resources that try to hold your hand in the next steps you take. One of Access Folk’s 4 “ideas” postcards, and Talking Birds’ “Nest Code” for their Coventry home.